Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back (2017)

A monk and his three disciples continue on their journey to battle demons.

Director:

Hark Tsui

Writers:

Stephen Chow, Si-Cheun Lee (screenwriter)

Stars:

Kris Wu, Kenny Lin, Chen Yao

2 wins & 8 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Kris Wu	...	Monk Tang Sanzang
Kenny Lin	...	The Monkey King, Sun Wukong (as Gengxin Lin)
Chen Yao	...	Minister
Yun Lin	...	Felicity (as Jelly Lin)
Yiwei Yang	...	Pigsy (Zhu Ba Jie)
Mengke Bateer	...	Sandy (Sha Wujing)
Likun Wang	...	Spider (Qi Qin) (as Claudia Wang)
Bei-Er Bao	...	King
Duo Wang	...	handsome / young Pigsy (Zhu Ba Jie)
Chengpeng Dong	...	Taoist exorcist (as Peng Da)
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Sihan Cheng	...	Monk Tang's master (in Liliput dream)
Yonghui Huang	...	Exorcist's junior disciple
Tze-Chung Lam	...	(as Chi-chung Lam)
Jiqiang Li	...	Exorcist's senior disciple
Shuang Li	...	Midget (circus boss)

Storyline

Tang Monk brings three disciples on a journey to the West. On the outside, everything seems harmonious. However, tension is present beneath the surface, and their hearts and minds are not in agreement. After a series of demon-capturing events, the monk and his disciples gain mutual understanding of each others' hardships and unease. Finally, they resolve their inner conflict and work together to become an all-conquering, demon-exorcising team.

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Plot Keywords:

seduction | cleavage | monkey king | supernatural power | journey to the west | 

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Genres:

Adventure | Comedy | Family | Fantasy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for fantasy action violence, some suggestive content, rude humor and thematic elements

Did You Know?

Trivia

They Recast the main principles roles to move away from the love story to a more traditional action comedy genre

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Crazy Credits

There is post credit scene.

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Connections

Follows Journey to the West (2013)

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Soundtracks

Fisherman's Song of the East China Sea
[during the aerial fire fight]

User Reviews

The Journey loses it's excitement in the translation I think?

Journey To The West bored me, the same way that Monkey King 2 bored me. I'm starting to think that maybe the monkey king is not my thing (Although, DragonBall has to be some sort of adaption to the character do to a big likeness between the two (Same way Marvel's Thor is similar but does not full mimic the Norse mythology).

Maybe unlike anime, I can't watch these movies with subtitles . As an American use to Hollywood Blockbusters when I see an actor alone on a screen interacting with characters that were made in a computer, I'm expecting a lot more action adventure to my Fantasy, but all I got here was talk. This may have not been that bad but I feel that the comedy did not translate well with subtitles. Having to read and look at the visuals did not work this time.

Plus the anime style cartoonery did not translate well to live action. Some of the visual gags timing was fine, but it really did not click. I appreciate the attempt but I just thought it was stupid in the long run.

Like with Monkey King 2, my favorite part of this film was the lone epic action scene at the end of the movie that was big and the reason that anyone would buy a ticket to see it in 3D. Although it's not worth the ticket cause that one scene does not make this movie. I've seen films that one part can make the whole movie but The Demons Strike Back is not complex enough for that. It starts slow continues slow and then ends epic but that greatness does not make up for all the slowness.

The visual effects are OK but not good enough for a picture to bore me with them. Very standard an unimpressive (Except for the 3D spectacular that ends the film).

Maybe my knowledge (Or lack of) the Monkey King is steering my judgement, maybe I'm expecting too much from a Chinese Blockbuster (My favorite part was at the end credits when the filmmakers did a bit that confirms that this movie is the Chinese version of the Blockbuster), but this latest adaption of Journey To The West is not doing it for me at all. Maybe I need to see if they do an English dub that might translate better, and change my mine.

http://cinemagardens.com/

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Japan] Official Weibo [CountryCode]

Country:

China

Language:

Mandarin

Release Date:

3 February 2017 (USA)

Also Known As:

Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back

Box Office

Budget:

$63,300,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$463,883, 5 February 2017

Gross USA:

$880,346

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$247,585,244

Company Credits

Production Co:

Film Workshop, Star Overseas, Alibaba Pictures Group

Technical Specs

Runtime:

109 min

Sound Mix:

Auro 11.1

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1